John B Goetz:—This is an appeal heard at a sittings of this Board in Penticton, British Columbia on June 3, 1980, in which the appellant appeals against her reassessments for the 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976 taxation years. The Minister of National Revenue gave the following explanation for the reassessments:
. . . the profits from the sale of land in the amounts of $5,943.48 in 1973, $9,709.68 in 1975, $2,440 in 1976, and the loss of $1,740.55 in 1974 have been correctly included in or deducted from income in each of the respective years in accordance with the provisions of Sections 3 and 9 of the Act.
In assessing the appellant, the respondent relied, inter alia, upon sections 3, 9 and subsection 248(1) of the Income Tax Act, SC 1970-71-72, c 63 as amended.
This appeal was heard on common evidence with the appeals of Thomas J Collins, K Mary C Collins and Charles G Holmes.
The appellant is the wife of Dr Lim and is a close friend of Dr Charles G Holmes, as Dr Holmes and her husband went through medical school together. She lived in the Okanagan Valley since 1960. She stated that she had five children and wanted a place where the children could ride horses and recreate. She walked all over the Davis farm when the purchase thereof was put to her by the appellant Thomas J Collins. She also stated that she had no discussions with respect to the use of the land and I find this hard to believe. She termed her interest in the purchase was on the basis of a “longterm investment and recreation for the children, not so much as a farming investment”. She first came in contact with Collins through Dr Holmes. In 1966 she purchased a farm near Kelowna which was farmed by the operator of the farm and which was sold to him in 1977. In 1976 she also acquired a farm of 9.10 acres which had been an apple orchard which she tore down and seeded to alfalfa. She is also a controlling shareholder of Stratford Holdings Ltd, the balance of the shares being held by her children. This company deals in real estate and sold one lot and has another piece of farm land composed of one acre. She says she looked at the Davis property at the request of Collins and went along with what Collins said with respect to the sale. With Dr Holmes, she could have purchased the home site of the Davis farm, but she did not, even though she expressed the desire to have a place where they could camp, have picnics and ride horses. If she and Dr Holmes had purchased the land, they could have had someone intensively farm it to alfalfa because it was bottom land near the river. She admits that proceeds from the haying operation on the Davis land were pulled out of the company business and not reinvested in Bob-O-Link Farms. Obviously, Mrs Lim has considerable knowledge and has had transactions involving land personally and through her controlling company, Stratford Holdings Ltd.
Having regard to the facts and reasons for judgment rendered in the appeal of Thomas J Collins v MNR, I am impelled to dismiss this appeal on those grounds as well as the facts that the appellant, surely, as a land investor would have inquired very thoroughly from Mr Collins as to the profitability of the farming operations prior to purchase. The evidence in the Thomas J Collins appeal would indicate that there was a decision to dispose of the 1745 acres of the Davis property prior to the actual death of Davis, or minor illness of Thomas J Collins.
For the above reasons, the appeal is dismissed.
Appeal dismissed.
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